Murtaugh is scary for a lot of reasons, but being able to aim Schlock has to be pretty high on the list.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think half of the longest-running main cast showed up at all in this book. I'm reasonably sure the last time Tagon appeared was at the end of book 14, and it's been a bit longer still since we saw Kevyn. Think we'll be getting to see what they and their new ship have been up to in the interim?